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The New Bright Future 



FOR 



Delaware Negroes 



What the School Code Means 
to the Colored People 



Mr. P. S. duPont's Gift Will Build 
the Best Schools in America 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

DELAWARE NEGRO CIVIC LEAGUE 






9.' *t D. 



What the School Code Means to the Colored People 



How does the new School Code especially benefit the colored schools? 

It gives them a square deal by placing them on the same finan- 
cial footing as the white schools. 



Did they have a square deal under the old school laws? 

They did not. The old school laws limited the local financial 
support of colored schools to taxes levied on the persons and 
property of colored citizens. Inasmuch as the colored people 
are not as wealthy as the whites they cannot raise as much 
money by taxation as the white people. This prevented the col- 
ored schools from being as well built and well equipped as the 
white schools and prevented colored teachers being as well paid 
as white teachers. 



Why was this not a square deal? 

Because it made opportunities for education dependent upon 
wealth, which is contrary to all principles of a free public school 
system. In a free public school system opportunities and fa- 
cilities for education should be equal without regard to wealth, 
color, religion or political belief. 



In what other way did the old school laws discriminate against the 
colored people? 

By limiting local support of colored schools to taxes levied on 
property of colored citizens it was necessary for the poorest 
people to pay the highest tax rates in order to get even the 
simplest kind of education. In other words, colored people were 
penalized because of their poverty. 

Can any examples of this be given? 

Yes. Records of the old school committees show the following : 
Only three per cent, of the white school districts in New Castle 
County had a local property school tax rate of 50 cents or over, 
while 75 per cent, of the colored districts in the same county had 
tax rates of 50 cents or over. In Kent county only 17 per cent. 



of the white school districts had tax rates of 50 cents or over, 
while 53 per cent, of the colored school districts had tax rates of 
50 cents or over. In Sussex County 18 per cent, of the white 
school districts had tax rates of 50 cents or over, while 65 per 
cent, of the colored school districts had tax rates of 50 cents or 
over. 

Under the old school laws the white school district of Caesar 
Rodney, Kent county, was famed for having the highest school 
tax rate of any school district in Delaware. Its rate was $1 20 
Yet the colored school district of Mt. Olive in Kent county, had 
a tax rate of $2.25, and that of Greenwood, in Sussex county, 
had a tax rate of $2.00. With the exception of Caesai Rodney 
no other white school district in Delaware had a tax rate of 
$1.00 or more, but there were seven colored school districts in 
Delaware which had a tax rate of $1.00 or more. 
Some idea of the unfairness in tax rates which the old school 
laws forced on the colored citizens may be had from compari- 
sons. In the Slaughter Neck district, Sussex county, the white 
school tax rate was only 21 cents; the colored school tax rate 
was 50 cents. At Roxana the white school tax rate was 40 cents ; 
the colored school, 70 cents. At Greenwood the white school 
tax rate was 87.5 cents; the colored school tax rate was $2.00. 
At Odessa the white school tax rate was 40 cents; the colored 
school tax was $1.00. These are only a few of the many ex- 
amples which might be given to show how the old school laws 
discriminated against the less wealthy colored school districts, 
compelling them to have an extraordinarily high tax rate in or- 
der to raise enough money to have even a poor school. It was 
impossible under such conditions for the colored people to have 
good schools. 



What effect did this have on the teachers of colored schools? 

It made it impossible to pay colored teachers living wages. 
Seventy-five per cent, of the colored teachers in Delaware under 
th n old school laws received a monthly salary of $45.00 or less, 
while only three per cent, of the white teachers received salaries 
that low. Under the old school laws the average annual salary 
of colored teachers in Delaware was $315.00 a year, or less than 
$1.00 a day. This was less than colored girls and women could 
get in the canneries, in kitchens, in laundries, or doing the rough 
work of scrub women. 



What was the effect of this tax discrimination on the schools? 

It reduced them to the level of poverty. They had no maps, no 
supplies of any kind. As a rule buildings were in a state of ruin 
almost beyond repair; plastering knocked off, blackboards 
broken, few desks, broken stoves and poorly heated in cold 
weather and were a constant fire menace. The schools were 
pitifully inadequate, as high as 50 and 60 children being crowd- 
ed into a school house intended to accommodate not over 20 or 



25. In such cases children sat on the floor or on boxes; they 
were squeezed four, five and six in seats intended for only two 
or three. The sanitary accommodations frequently were dirty 
and disgraceful beyond description. Under such conditions it 
was impossible to give colored children anything approaching 
proper education. 



Why were not these conditions remedied? 

Because with the local financial support of colored schools lim- 
ited under the old school laws to taxes levied and raised on 
property owned by colored people it was absolutely impossible 
to raise enough money by local taxation to keep the colored 
schools in repair and up to the proper standards. As has been 
shown, colored property owners were straining every resource 
to raise school taxes at tax rates twice and three times as high 
as those of their white neighbors. In propertion to their 
wealth they were paying by far the highest school taxes in Dela- 
ware. Relief could not come from them under the old laws. 



Was this discrimination against colored schools peculiar to Dela- 
ware? 

Yes. In no other state of the Union, not even in the southern 
states, did school laws penalize colored schools to the extent the 
old school laws of Delaware did. 



Were the old school laws consistent with other laws and practices in 
Delaware? 

They were not. Taxes levied on white and colored citizens and 
their property were not kept separate in any other department 
of Delaware government. Colored citizens were not compelled 
to travel only the public roads they themselves maintained by 
taxes levied on their property. They were not limited in police 
and fire protection only to whatever protection they themselves 
could pay for. They were not limited in the courts of justice 
only to such courts as they themselves could support. Only in 
the field of public education and free schools were they com- 
pelled to be satisfied with such schools as were supported by 
local taxes raised exclusively by them. 



How does the new School Code remedy those evils? 

(1) It changes the method of levying school taxes and their 
expenditure. 

(2) It brings the colored schools under the same jurisdiction 
as the white schools and makes them subject to the same rules 
and standards. 



How are school taxes levied and expended under the new Code? 

All property within any school unit is taxed at the same rate, 
regardless of the color of the property owner. All local school 
taxes thus raised go into one common school fund for that unit, 
and are expended on the schools (regardless of color) of that 
unit as the school authorities may direct. 



Who establishes the standards colored schools and colored teachers 
must maintain under the new Code? 

The State Board of Education. 



Are the standards for teachers, school buildings and school equip- 
ment the same throughout the state, regardless of color? 

They are. The State Board of Education acting under the pro- 
visions and mandates of the New School Code makes no dis- 
tinction between white and colored schools in fixing the quali- 
fications of teachers and the standards for school buildings and 
equipment. The School Code itself fixes the minimum wages 
of all school teachers, without reference to color. No school 
authority may employ a teacher at a wage less than the mini- 
mum fixed by the School Code. 



What is the effect of this upon the colored schools? 

It prevents their falling below the standard in buildings and 
equipment and prevents colored teachers being paid salaries in- 
ferior to white teachers holding the same kind of a certificate 
and having the same length of service. 



How does the new School Code prevent these things? 

Because the Code does two distinct things : 

(1) It establishes certain minimum salaries for all teachers of 
like grade and authorizes the State Board of Education to es- 
tablish certain uniform standards for school buildings and 
equipment. 

(2) It directs the school authorities of each of the school units 
in Delaware to prepare a budget which must provide enough 
funds to run the schools, both white and colored, of their re- 
spective units according to the standards fixed by law and by 
the State Board of Education. That proportion of these funds 
which is to be raised by local taxation must be raised by a uni- 
form tax rate on all property within each school unit and by a 
uniform capitation or "head" tax on all citizens within each 
unit. In this way the colored schools are assured of financial 
support necessary to maintain them equal to white schools. 



Has the new School Code brought to the colored schools of Delaware 
any other advantages they did not have and could not have 
under the old school laws? 

Yes. It has made possible the P. S. du Pont gift of $900,000.00 
to the colored schools of Delaware. 



What is this gift? 

It is a gift of $900,000.00 or such sum as may be needed, to be 
used in furnishing every colored school district in Delaware 
operated in accordance with the new School Code, with modern 
and model school grounds and buildings and with complete, 
modern equipment for the new buildings. 



Why was not such a gift offered under the old school laws? 

Because there was no way under the old laws to make it prac- 
tical. There were no standards fixed for the construction of 
school buildings or for school equipment. There was no school 
authority vested with power to fix such standards, much less en- 
force them. There was no way to compel the construction of 
new school buildings where they were needed, and no way to 
compel buildings which were erected to be constructed to con- 
form to the rules of safety, comfort and sanitation in their con- 
struction. 



Why is such a gift practical under the new School Code? 

Because the new School Code authorizes the State Board of 
Education to fix standards of construction of all new school 
buildings in Delaware, operating under the Code; also it em- 
powers the State Board of Education to condemn for school use 
any building which violates these standards. By making the 
use of any part of the gift subject to the School Code and to the 
building rules and standards fixed by the State Board of Edu- 
cation, it makes certain that all of the gift used will be used to 
assist the State Board of Education provide model, modern and 
adequate housing facilities for the schools of Delaware. 



Was the P. S. du Pont gift to the colored schools of Delaware given 
subject to those conditions? 

Yes. The gift was made with the proviso that only those schools 
could benefit from it which were operating under the School 
Code, and all grounds, buildings and equipment purchased or 
constructed out of this gift must first be authorized by the State 
Board of Education under the new Code and all buildings erect- 
ed out of this gift must be in accordance with the standards 
fixed by the State Board of Education. 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 



How is the P. S. du Pont gift of $900,000.00 to the cole 

Delaware administered? 019 653 707 7 

It is administered by the Delaware School Auxiliary Associa- 
tion. 



What is this Association? 

It is an organization incorporated under the laws of Delaware 
"to co-operate and assist in the administration and execution of 
certain provisions'' of the new School Code "providing for 
ample, appropriate and suitable grounds, buildings, and equip- 
ment for the free public schools of the State of Delaware and 
providing for the remodeling of old school buildings and for 
constructing new school buildings with appropriate fixtures and 
equipment and providing for the purchase of playgrounds, 
school grounds and school sites. To co-operate with and to as- 
sist the State Board of Education of the State of Delaware, the 
County Boards of Education of the several counties of the State 
of Delaware, and the Boards of Education of the Special School 
Districts operating under the Delaware School Code of 1919.' ' 



Under these articles of incorporation could the Delaware School 
Auxiliary Association co-operate with school authorities not 
operating under the School Code? 

It could not. 



Would the repeal of the School Code or its vital alteration stop the 
work of this Association as incorporated? 

Yes. 



What would become of any unexpended amount of the P. S. du Pont 
gift in such an event? 

It would, under the terms of the gift, be turned over to Dela- 
ware College? 



How is the P. S du Pont gift of $900,000 to the colored schools to be 
expended? 

For the purchase of school sites and the building and furnish- 
ing of school buildings to be operated under the Delaware 
School Code of 1919, without any cost to the colored people or 
to the taxpayers of Delaware. When such schools are com- 
pleted they will be presented as absolute gifts to the legally 
constituted school authorities. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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9 653 707 " 



